7. Greenland Dock Information & History
Howland Great Wet Dock was originally laid out between 1695-99 on land owned by the aristocratic Russell family. They obtained parliamentary permission in 1695 to construct a rectangular dock with an area of about 10 acres. Unlike the later docks, it was not built with cargo traffic in mind. Instead, it was promoted as being capable of accommodating lots of ships. It was essentially a re-fitting base where ships could be repaired and berthed in a sheltered anchorage. From the 1720s, Greenland whalers also used the dock and blubber boiling houses were built to produce oil on the south side. This eventually prompted the dock to be renamed Greenland Dock. However, this trade declined sharply by the start of the 19th century. In 1806 the dock was sold to the founder of the Commercial Dock Company. In 1865, the company merged with the neighbouring Surrey Docks to form the Surrey Commercial Docks. More at wikipedia |Read lddc-history.org.uk |Southwark History Walk PDF >View Photos of here and nearby locations|Buy Prints